While in the most luxurious mansion in Canterlot the King was asking the princess for a favour, in a cave a few hours by train from there three ponies, two of which had just become wanted criminals, were talking over breakfast. The room was small and bare, two simple chairs had been arranged to accommodate as many ponies laying just in front of a table with three cups of tea on it and three slices of half-eaten cake (one decidedly bigger than the other two). Just on the other side of the table, there was a comfortable looking bed three times as large as that of an average pony. Most of its surface was occupied by the majestic figure of Celestia herself. Her head was pointing towards the two mares, while her back hooves were carelessly laying where the pillows would usually be. Her right forehoof was holding a small fork that she was skillfully using to cut pieces from her slice and then consume them.
"...I thought it would be similar to dark magic, in which case we would have ways to counter and possibly cleanse it..." Twilight sparkle was explaining, carefully. She had thin dark circles under her eyes, having barely slept the previous night. the excitement of her first success, the party they had, the guilt she felt, and the many ideas floating in her mind were a terrible combination to reconcile sleep. "But it was completely different. It was equally dark, but much colder. And... Fragmented, if it makes sense?" She then stopped talking, but for a moment it was clear by her eyes that the gears in her mind were still turning, as if she was still trying to concoct new poignant observations.
Celestia nodded simply, looking at her student with a lingering sadness: "I believe you are correct." For just a moment her eyes and her mind wandered away, maybe brought back to a battle one thousand years over. "Dark magic runs on the emotions of the user alone, draining him of the positive ones over time." She gave a worried look to Sunset Shimmer. To which she tried to smile reassuringly, despite the bandages on her body undermining the effectiveness of her expression "Nightmare magic is possibly more insidious. I think the nightmares infecting my sister amplify her negative ones more and more."
"Still, it should be possible to separate her from the nightmares?" the lavender unicorn followed shortly after, with a curious tone. "I mean, as long as they are different entities..."
"It should, and a thousand years ago I tried" Celestia looked proud, as her student was on the right path, but at the same time ashamed at her own failure. This time, even she didn't have all the answers "but I either wasn't powerful enough, or I couldn't figure out how to do it..."
Twilight seemed ready to advance new hypotheses, but she was stopped in her track by Sunset's intervention "Twi, Princess..." She started, quietly, getting their attention "I believe we should focus on the matter at hand." Instinctively, Twilight looked at the clock hanging on the wall, then went back to her friend "We should discuss your sister's situation when we have managed to rescue her."
To this, both Twilight and the Princess couldn't help but agree, giving the orange unicorn a nod. But once more, they were cut off before they could say more. Three loud knocks on the door, followed by the Imposing figure of Shining Armor getting through the door in a hurry, "She woke up!" he was panting slightly, sign he had come there as quickly as possible, just as they expected him to. What they didn't expect was for their captive to awake so quickly, as looking at the clock it was barely past eight in the morning. Twilight's spell was expected to keep her sleeping two or three hours more
"Thank you, Shining Armor." Celestia answered with a calm smile, rising slightly more from the bed to get into a more princessly, dignified posture. She hoped they'd have time to complete their breakfast, but this happening earlier rather than later was certainly for the best. "Twilight..." She had decided already how to handle the situation, so she made her request without missing a beat: "Please, go there immediately. Sunset and I should follow in a few minutes"
"As you wish, princess", Twilight exclaimed with a nod, getting back on her hooves. She took one more bite of her cake and washed it down with the last of her tea, before moving quickly towards the stallion, giving the two mares she was leaving behind one last nod. "We'll go, then..." it was quite obvious she was a little bit worried for her teacher and her fellow student, but she knew the urgency of the call, so she quickly left the room.
The two mares left behind both started rising slowly from their position, that is to say at the pace Celestia's curse and Sunset's wounds allowed them. Even the latter, usually extremely athletic, knew perfectly she would have held Twilight back, had she tried to go with her immediately. "Princess, let me help you" While she was by any means more sluggish than her mentor, as the wounds still hurt, her magic had for the most part recovered, so she could use it to help both herself and Celestia.
As for the Alicorn, even after a thousand years she still felt a bit bad about needing help... But she also knew how long it would take her to get there with no help at all. And as much as she trusted Twilight with dealing with the situation, she wanted to see Discord's advisor for herself. So, with the soft tone that characterized her, she simply said: "Thank you."
It wasn't long before the two siblings reached the door to their captive's 'cell'. Neither was out of breath, which was quite impressive as Shining Armor had already galloped the whole route both ways. His enunciation wasn't even remotely ragged as he addressed one of the two guards he had left in front of the door. "Flash, anything to report?"
The orange pegasus had obviously already noticed the incoming comrades, and was already blushing slightly at the sight of his commander's sister. "H-Hi Twilight!" But he knew better than lingering on the greetings, especially when his superior's tone was so direct and urgent. "Yessir. She calmed down and started to hang some streamers..." He stopped, as he saw a menacing frown coming from the white unicorn.
"I told you to keep an eye of her without doing anything else", he growled. It was supposed to be a simple job. The door was provided of a practical, one-way peephole. No interaction necessary (nor suggested) "Unless there was an emergency?" And he honestly doubted that streamers could be involved in any such situation.
"Shiny, I think it was nice of them." The lavender mare ignored their grateful expression or her brother's frown, and went on calmly "If a bit weird..." Of all the thing they could decide to provide her, or of all the things she could ask for, she couldn't really conceive of how that could be literally the first one.
"The thing is..." Flash Sentry gulped, some cold sweat dripping from beneath his gold-coloured helmet to his orange forehead. He knew they wouldn't believe him "We didn't."
Twilight raised her eyebrows. She thought the 'prisoner' had been searched thoroughly to make sure she hadn't hidden any weapon underneath her stage costume. She sighed, attributing the fact at simple negligence, and thought (maybe with a pinch of arrogance) that she had nothing to fear. "keep an eye on the situation, but don't come in", she said, moving towards the door and moving the key with her magic. As the others acquiesced at her request, she took a deep breath, and finally crossed the threshold.
Whichever expectation she could have, the reality was overwhelming. The room was on the larger side, with a very high ceiling, carved in the rock. It was not dark, as many lamps were used to light up the place, and it was even less bare than most rooms, as they didn't want it to look like a prison. That was the reason behind the especially comfortable bed (which was surprisingly already done), the bookshelf along one wall and the relatively large table with four chairs. What was not supposed to be there were the large amount of pink and golden streamers that the supposed prisoner was hanging in that very moment.
Most of the work was done, and they were even hanged in a place where it seemed impossible they would stick, not speaking of how she shouldn't have been able to get that high on her own. Pinkie Pie was now standing on a chair, balancing on a single hoof while trying and failing to reach the same height one more time. As focused as she was, she only noticed the presence of Twilight when she closed the door behind her with her magic. To the lavender mare surprise, she turned towards her with a large smile and a surprisingly cheerful tone "Oh, hi! Could you help me put this up there, please?"
Twilight blinked silently, as her understanding failed her. That was not the amount of stuff that could easily be hidden (or that could inadvertently be kept on her body), and that was not the reaction that she should have had. She had been taken there against her will, without anything being explained to her, and yet she seemed... Fine? A weak "Sure" was all that the unicorn could muster, as her horn lit up and her aura took the extremity of the streamer from her hooves to fix it where she was pointing to.
Amid giggles, Pinkie spoke again excitedly: "Thank you!" The pink mare seemed to be glowing, really satisfied with her work "This place was just too boring, almost sad." His expression went from happiness to some tinges of sadness matching what she was saying, and then she looked kind of worried "Oh, I don't mean to offend. It's not bad, just a bit too empty..." She thought she could have made an impasse. How could she know if the lavender unicorn actually liked the 'minimal' decor? "But I think you'll agree this is better!"
The unicorn looked around. Streamers or not this was ultimately her cell. A cold and impersonal room carved in the bare rock, so different from the luxurious place she lived. And yet she was... Fine? She needed to take one more breath before speaking. "It is... Nice. Thank you." Not exactly her style, but she couldn't deny it looked much more pleasant than before. "Still, do you realize where you are?"
The earth pony had in the meantime left the chair she was on and was moving it back towards the centre of the room absentmindedly. She seemed to think about what the other mare was asking for a few moments "It's funny you ask", she replied simply, with some confusion visible on her face "I thought you would tell me!"
"That's... fair?" She wondered. Maybe she had asked the question in an unclear way. Or Discord's right hoof was just messing with her. "We foalnapped you." She could in no way be clearer than that, and as the words left her mouth she started to feel bad about the whole thing once more "I did." Ultimately, she was the one 'doing' it, and she had to own the fact. "And we are very sorry, but we had to..." She paused, letting the weight of what she just said simmer for a moment. Mere instants that the other mare quickly filled.
"I thought so" Pinkie nodded. The recollection of herself trapped in the dark magic box much longer than she should have and then getting very sleepy, only to find herself in this strange room had already made her realize as much "When I woke up I was, like, super worried! I thought you might want to hurt me, or worse, but then I thought that if that was your intention you would have done that already. And that you really wouldn't do that, since His super-duper majesty would get super angry!" To that Sunset flinched slightly, but Pinkie went on "Then I became sad because I thought about him, and how I couldn't be there to his wedding! But then I thought he wouldn't marry If I wasn't there!" There was a hint of pride in her words. Twilight was almost surprised at her confidence, but she had to recognize she was right "Then I started thinking about what you might want from me, but nothing came to mind, so I decided not to worry anymore and just wait. But I could not not worry, with the room looking so bare (No offence) so I took some streamers and started to hang them. But then..."
"Thank you!" Twilight said decidedly, trying to stop the torrent of words coming out of the other mare's mouth. "For the... Uhm... transparency?" Laying her thought process like that was quite impressive, especially since it didn't look like she was intentionally omitting details or lying (Although, she had to admit, Applejack would probably be a better judge of that than her). "But I think you might want to know why you are here."
Pinkie was silent for a few seconds, showing a neutral pensive expression. It didn't last long and a new bright smile appeared on her muzzle. She sounded almost grateful at the suggestion "Actually, I would like to know!"
Good, they were getting somewhere. Now it was only a matter of nudging her in the right direction. Her demeanour was as calm as she could be, her voice didn't waver. "As we were saying, we have no intention of hurting you, and we don't want to hold you here for longer than necessary." That had to be clear from the getgo. "Nor we are going to use you as some sort of, forgive the wording, 'bargain chip'..." It was obvious as such a thing would be pointless, while dealing with Discord. "You are, as far as we know, the advisor that got the closest to Discord in very a long time. Possibly ever." And to this, Pinkie looked especially proud, as she smiled and nodded. "So we believe you could be able to influence him."
"That makes sense," she said slowly, her brow slightly furrowed, her mind working in full force. "If you contacted him asking for a ransom, or to get something in return, he would probably find all of you super quickly" Twilight nodded, as her understanding of the situation was on point. How could it not be, as she knew first hoof what Diascord's powers could do? "And I think I could influence some of his decisions..." Sometimes she did. Softening some of his choices, or making sure he acted reasonably. It was part of her job. "But... I don't want to betray him!"
The lavender unicorn considered this for a moment. Her loyalty was obviously commendable, and so was her honesty. How easy it would have been for her to fake her agreement, and ignore their every request once returned to Canterlot. She instead decided, true to her principles, to confront her. Twilight couldn't help but smile, convinced more and more that seeking her was the right choice overall. "No, that's not..." She was interrupted, though, by a soft-spoken yet authoritative voice coming from near the door.
"Twilight, I believe I could answer that!"
Celestia was standing tall near the wooden frame, which was, in fact, shorter than herself, with Sunset to her side. The latter was looking at the earth pony warily. "Princess! Sunset!" They had hurried more than it was necessary, but they looked overall fine (as much as Sunset could look fine with bandages all over her.)
Pinkie Pie was, as it could be expected, incredulous at what she saw. It was not an everyday occurrence to meet an Alicorn, as only one was known to exist in the entirety of Equestria. But while she was extremely surprised, she recovered swiftly. "Are you... Celestia?"
The former princess was, for a moment, taken aback. But being one of the closest advisors to Discord, it was not inconceivable that she would come to know some of his secrets. "I thought only historians even knew about me, at this point." She paused for one moment, revealing a small, ambiguous smile "And that they mostly debated if I even existed..."
"Well, Discord doesn't really like to talk about it." She smiled, sheepishly. She did not really approve of her King erasing the unflattering parts of history. And yet she tried to defend him anyways, or better, to justify his actions. "But I think it is because he is sorry!"
"You mean ashamed?" Sunset intervened, a piercing gaze towards the earth pony. She had tried to keep her mouth shut, to resist being overtaken by what she felt towards Discord and those that associated with him, but this last claim was just too much.
"M-maybe?" Pinkie Pie tried. What Discord had done was not a good action. She knew it, Discord knew it, and he definitely regretted it. She honestly thought there was no point into recriminating now, one thousand years afterwards... And yet, seeing the victim of that curse in front of her, thinking of the implication, she couldn't help but feel a little bit of that shame. "But I'm sure that, if he met you now, he would apologize and try to make things right!" This image helped her keep her cheer, but it was hard to say if she really believed that would be the case. "By the way, what happened to you? It looks like it hurts!"
Sunset Sighed. On one hoof, she felt angry. She even wanted to be. But she had an hard time to be, seeing how thoroughly brainwashed (at least in her perspective) she was. "I fought Discord." She said bluntly, letting the weight of it sink for a moment "I think It went well. Many of my friends are not going to recover as easily." She paused for just one moment, than she looked straight in her eyes. "Or at all."
"Oh..." Her eyes widened for a moment. She thought Discord powers were a strong enough deterrent to avoid any such conflict. But, as it was painfully obvious, that was not the case. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Celestia's intervention caught everypony by surprise. Her tone was serious, her every word impactful and well thought out. "They knew what they were doing; they were all ready to die. That is just how much we believe in our cause." Pinkie gulped. She was used to being in the presence of Cadence, to the point she was no longer intimidated by the alicorn's regality. But Celestia had a completely different aura around herself. And as much as she felt the pressure, she couldn't look away. "Ours is not a fight for me, nor a fight against Discord." That was something she often had to remind to the ponies around her, as many ended up fighting for one or the other reason. but that was not what Celestia wished: "All we want is the good of Equestria and all its ponies!" She paused for mere moments, her tone of voice softened slightly "Do you not?"
It took a few moments for Pinkie to realize she had been asked a question, that was how much she was enraptured by the Alicorn's charisma "I... I do!" She replied quickly, but earnestly. She thought for a moment more "I always try to be loyal to Discord and to Equestria!" And there was supposed to be no contradiction in this.
Celestia nodded and smiled, after a moment she spoke again: "And does Discord always act in Equestria's best interest?"
It was a rhetorical question, but the earth pony considered the fact for a few long moments. Her already challenged smile wavering more and more, until it became an expression of slight shame "Most of the time?" But still, she deeply believed it, and everything in her demeanour attested as much.
Sunset ground her teeth slightly, anger rising in her. Twilight had to move a little bit closer, and take her in a delicate hug (she barely touched her, not to aggravate her wounds), which helped to calm her. Celestia looked at her for a moment with worry, before going back to Pinkie "You have been living in Canterlot for a long time. I'm afraid you might have been sheltered from some of Discord's actions." That was to say that the reality might have been much bleaker than what she had already been exposed to. "If you let us show you other parts of Equestria, you might understand the importance of our cause, and how much you could contribute to it."
Pinkie looked pensive once more. She briefly looked at the ponies around her, and then answered: "I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Celestia simply nodded, with a neutral expression. Pinkie, instead, seemed to have a new idea, and a smile crept up on her face once again: "But I might change your mind too!"
These last few words had a very different effect on the three ponies in front of her. Sunset found such an idea exhilarating; she wondered what the pink mare would say when, inevitably, she was going to be exposed to the evil of his master. Twilight, on the other hand, was slightly taken aback at the idea, but it did not exclude it immediately. If ponies could hold such loyalty and high regard towards Discord, there was maybe something they had not considered. Maybe, even if they ever found a way to defeat him, his loyalists would try to bring him back. Understanding what they saw in him would be nothing less of a necessity. As for Celestia, it was impossible to say what was going on behind her inscrutable expression. She did nothing but nod once more, and then spoke softly: "We will see."